Second Child Syndrome – After School Clubs

When the geekdaughter started school two years ago, I discounted any thoughts of after school clubs for the first year. She had her swimming lesson after school on a Monday, and I’d just signed her up for ballet lessons on a Saturday morning as well. That felt like quite enough for her to get used to. Last year she started going to a single after school club – Mad Science in the Autumn term, and then dance club in the Spring and Summer terms. Towards the end of the Summer term we signed her up for a gymnastics class at the local club as well.

Last week the letters came home regarding the after school clubs the school was offering for this term. They’ve laid on an amazing selection, and the geekdaughter, who can now read the list, reeled off several that she wanted to go along to. She initially wanted to go to Loom Band club, but on discovering that it clashed with Mad Science decided she’d prefer the latter. She was dead set on Art Club as well. Then I spotted a new club, Dancing with Dinosaurs – a coding club for Years 1 and 2, which she was also interested in. This then gave us a challenge – could we cope with doing multiple school runs on some days – collecting the geekson at 3.15pm as usual and then going back an hour later for the geekdaughter? This was really the geekdaddy’s decision, as the clubs were mostly on days he does the pickup.

I spotted that a couple of the clubs were open to Reception children, and one in particular, Lego club, was on at the same time as one of the clubs the geekdaughter wanted to attend. Thankfully the geekson liked the sound of the club and was willing to be signed up. And the coding club was running at the same time as the geekdaddy runs his Code Club for the older kids, so he could bring the geekdaughter home with him after that. So we’re down to just one day a week when the kids need picking up at different times, and thankfully the geekdaddy was OK with that.

So for this term our weeks look like this:

Monday: geekson to Lego club, geekdaughter to Mad Science, followed by both kids to swimming

Tuesday: geekdaughter to Art Club

Thursday: geekdaughter to gymnastics

Friday: geekdaughter to Dancing with Dinosaurs

Saturday: geekdaughter to Ballet.

So the poor geekson, as second child, is doing a lot more after school than his big sister did in her Reception year, and although he’s doing fewer activities there are a few of hers which he has to come along to and sit with me waiting for her to finish. I guess this is the downside of being the second child – he has to fit around her a lot more.

Heavens knows what it’s going to be like when the geekson wants to do some activities of his own!

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